Defining Abnormalities and Disorders - AP Psychology

Alzheimer's disease accounts for somewhere between 60 to 80% of all dementia cases. "Alzheimer's" and "dementia" are sometimes used interchangeably, but this is an error due to the great overlapping in cases. All Alzheimer's patients have dementia, but not all dementia patients have Alzheimer's disease.

Negative symptoms are thoughts, feelings, or behaviors that are present in the average person but diminished in a person with a mental disorder. Diminished appetite is the only option that is not a negative symptom of schizophrenia.

"Insanity" is not a medical term used to diagnose a patient, it is purely a legal term. It serves a very important purpose in legal affairs, since it is used to differentiate between what a person can be held responsible for. A person who is legally adjudicated as "insane" is, in the opinion of the court, unable to understand the consequences of their actions and, usually, unable to effectively assist their counsel in their legal defense.

Alogia can be one of the symptoms that paranoid schizophrenic experiences. It is a negative symptom characterized by a lack of language production as a result of "blocked thought." This is often manifested in short, empty phrases.

Current classification systems are categorical in nature, meaning that there are distinct categories for each mental illness that does not necessarily overlap with other diagnoses. A dimensional system that takes into account the overlapping nature of mental illness along a spectrum of severity has been proposed, but it has limited utility.

The psychodynamic approach in psychology holds that internal drives for pleasure (the id) is in constant conflict with the rational mind (the ego) and the moral mind (the superego). When these forces are unbalanced, they can manifest themselves as a variety of mental disorders.

Developmental psychopathology is the study of the development of psychological disorders, including autism, ADHD, and schizophrenia. This subfield of psychopathology focuses on a life course perspective in examining the trajectory of psychological disorders.

Post-traumatic stress disorder develops after a person is exposed to one or more traumatic events, including war, injury, assault, and natural disasters. PTSD is characterized by recurring flashbacks of the traumatic event, nightmares, hyperarousal, and high levels of anxiety.

Although many children and adolescents may suffer from generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), it is generally not diagnosed until later in development. The other four choices are more frequently diagnosed in those under 18 years old.

Axis IV records "psychological stressors" or external events that happen in a person's life that causes them to have a psychological problem. Debt, such as the inability to pay hostpital bills, would fall on this axis.

Axis I refers to the principle disorder that needs attention, such as major depressive disorder. Axis II lists any personality disorders that may be causing the problem described in Axis I. An example of a disorder that would be listed under Axis II is paranoid personality disorder. Axis III lists any medical or neurological problems that would be relevant to the patient's psychological problems. An example of a problem that would be listed under Axis III is severe asthma.

A double blind study is a study in which information that may change the results is kept both from the experimenter and from the participant. This is to keep the results of the study as neutral and unbiased as possible.

Comorbidity occurs when a patient has multiple diagnoses. Comorbidity is common in psychology, in that most patients have multiple diagnoses (e.g., ADHD & ODD) because psychiatric illnesses typically occur together.

A uniform system for classifying and describing mental disorders has been developed by the American Psychiatric Association. It is called the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

The American Medical Association maintains the Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) code set, which is a set of codes that describes medical, surgical, and diagnostic services. The International Classification of Disease (ICD) is used to classify diseases and other health problems. Medicare mandates the use of the Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System (HCPCS) for reimbursement. The United States Pharmacopeia (USP) is a compendium of over-the-counter and prescription drugs.

Insanity is the legal term for a severe mental illness, present at the time a crime was committed, that impaired the defendant's capacity to understand the moral wrong of an act. Insanity is not a medical diagnosis.

Idiocy is any severe mental deficiency present in early childhood. Dementia is a progressive loss of mental function characterized by memory impairment. A psychosis is a mental disorder in which there is a severe loss of contact with reality; it is a common feature of schizophrenia. A neurosis is an unconscious conflict that produces anxiety and leads to the use of defense mechanisms.

While this may seem like a very broad definition—perhaps classifying deviant behavior rather than a psychological abnormality—psychological abnormality is defined by this crucial element: the individual suffers due to a reocurring problem or disorder. That is, the individual suffers involuntarily at the hands of the disease and has little control of the symptomatic behavior of the illness. They often want to change their illness as opposed to continuing on how they are.

Common social biases include gender, race, economic class, ethnicity, and many more. Many are not even conscious that they carry these prejudices, and the best we can hope for improvement is to become aware of and change these biases as a society. Current statistics suggest that African-American males are more likely to be diagnostics as psychotic than Caucasian males in instances of subject abuse. This is an example of stereotype and prejudice intersecting professional diagnosis in an increadibly detrimental and socially dangerous manner; even though the individuals may display the same symptoms, they are given different diagnoses.

One of the major practical concerns with giving a person an official diagnosis is that it may become hard for a person to escape the label of that diagnosis. For instance, if a person is diagnosed as schizophrenic, observers may already have a preconceived notion of that person and behave differently towards them. If the diagnosed person sees they are treated as different, this may reinforce negative behaviors and perpetuate the stigma. Even if the person diagnosed as schizophrenic shows positive progress, observers may still have trouble thinking of them as a healthy, stable person.

Because narcissists are so focused on themselves and their own needs, they often neglect the needs of others, sometimes even exploiting these others for their own gain.

Anhedonia is defined as the loss of the ability to experience pleasure. Since Joe is no longer enjoying his hobbies (which are, by definition, activities he likes and enjoys), and spending time with his friends (who are, by definition, people he likes), it is reasonable to assume that he is experiencing some degree of anhedonia.